2025-26 PWHL Season Preview: Six PWHL Players Set to Bounce Back in 2026

The start of a new PWHL season brings with it a clean slate for all involved, and for those who may not have played to their standards this past year, an opportunity to bounce back. Here’s a starting lineup’s worth of players (three forwards, two defenders, and a goaltender) who struggled last season but look set to return to form in 2025-26.

Kateřina Mrázová (F, Ottawa Charge)

To say Mrázová’s 2024-25 was injury-plagued would be an understatement and a half. She missed five games in January with a lower-body injury, returned for four games, and then was knocked right back out for two months. She played through the World Championships with broken bones and a torn ligament in her wrist, and was taken out of the finals by a knee-on-knee hit in Game 1. Amidst all that, Mrázová still managed to score the goal to clinch the Charge's playoff berth, but her overall production dropped from 0.78 points per game to 0.5. Now back at 100%, Mrázová finding her first season form again will be vital to Ottawa’s success, especially given how many key players departed in the offseason.

Gabby Rosenthal (F, Vancouver Goldeneyes)

Rosenthal was something of an afterthought in Vancouver’s expansion haul, especially with some of the other names remaining on the New York Sirens’ unprotected list. She scored in her PWHL debut on the first shot of her career, but remained on one goal for the rest of the season. Of the 31 shots Rosenthal took, though, 28 were registered as a scoring chance, a ratio that should lead to a shooting percentage well over the 3.2% she had. If the Goldeneyes have any weakness on paper it would be center depth, but with more puck luck on her side Rosenthal could shore that up and then some.

Natalie Snodgrass (F, Seattle Torrent)

Snodgrass was drafted into the PWHL after two years as captain at UConn and a nearly point-per-game season with the PHF’s Minnesota Whitecaps. Her first year in Ottawa was solid, but she fell out of favour in the second, seeing more of the Charge’s press box than their top nine. Despite this, Seattle scooped her up pretty early into unrestricted free agency, and the Torrent’s fairly thin depth group on paper has Snodgrass in a role more akin to her first season. She'll get consistent playing time once again, but will she be able to make the most of it?

Honourable Mention: Grace Zumwinkle (F, Minnesota Frost)

While this one’s absolutely a slam dunk pick, it was so much of a slam dunk that Reid got to it first! Check out their piece on Zumwinkle here.

Guess who’s back? Three numbers that indicate Grace Zumwinkle is poised for a resurgence

After a dominant rookie campaign followed by a slow second year, Grace Zumwinkle is poised to return to her goal-scoring ways in year three.

The Ice GardenReid Lemker

Jaime Bourbonnais (D, New York Sirens)

Bourbonnais’ struggles to start last season led to her losing her foothold with Team Canada for the first time since she debuted with the senior national team in 2018-19, but she began to turn things around just as the Sirens snapped their lengthy losing skid. The 3-2 OT win against Montréal on March 12th was the first of a four-game point streak for Bourbonnais that accounted for over 70% of her season total. There’s a lot of offensive production to be replaced on the New York blueline in the absence of Ella Shelton, and Bourbonnais is certainly capable of providing it if she can sustain the momentum she started building late last year.

Anna Kjellbin (D, Toronto Sceptres)

It looked like Kjellbin was on her way out of Toronto when she wasn’t given a qualifying offer by the team that dealt for her at the trade deadline. However, she ended up re-signing with the Sceptres on a one-year deal in free agency, and now sits in a fairly secure position on the defensive depth chart. Kjellbin’s performance took an upturn both offensively and defensively following the trade, as four of her five points (including playoffs) were scored with Toronto, and she noticeably brought down her regular season GA/60 in that stretch. A full season with the Sceptres, who have very strong left-shot options to pair with her, could be exactly what Kjellbin needs to find the same success in North America that she’s had internationally.

Sandra Abstreiter (G, Montréal Victoire)

This bounce-back’s a couple years in the making. Abstreiter dealt with an injury and was heavily underutilized when healthy in 2024 as Ottawa’s backup, and signed on as the Victoire’s third last season. Even as Ann-Renée Desbiens went down with injury, Abstreiter didn’t manage to get into a PWHL game in 2025, but she’s done everything she can on the international stage to prove herself in the meantime. Her 3-0 record and .967 save percentage in Olympic qualifying secured Germany a spot in the Milano Cortina Games and she followed that up with a .923 at Worlds, going out with a 48-save effort against the United States. Having all but locked down the backup spot with Montréal for 2026, Abstreiter will look to make it worth the wait with her play.